This weekend we were at the legendary Sonar Festival in one of our favorite European cities, Barcelona. Founded 18 years ago, Sonar was the first ever daytime contemporary music festival in a European city and despite its renowned status, it’s avoided slipping into mainstream territory by continuing to showcase fresh talent.

Taking place across three days and two nights, the first thing that struck us was Sonar’s ability to coordinate such a multitude of electronic acts, hosted at two very different settings without overstepping the vibe at each spot. The 12 til 9 daytime event is a super chilled affair taking place at Barcelona’s beautiful cultural centre, just a stones throw from the Ramblas. By contrast, the 10pm til 7am night event was a rager at Fira Gran Via, a convention centre on the outskirts west of the city. While we’d love to cover every highlight from the weekend, there were just too many great moments, so instead we’ll bring you a varied shortlist of what made us tick:

This past few weeks has been particularly strong for EP releases. Two weeks ago, GDD™ head honcho Jonah Berry brought to our attention Julio Bashmore‘s recent mix for Vice mag. Julio’s recent EP entitled Everyone Needs A Theme Tune has been kicking up mad heat in the UK, and rightly so, it’s a fantastic record. The EP’s remixes have also recently dropped, my favorite of which is by rising talent Maurice Donovan, who also goes by the name of Ramadanman and Pearson Sound. That’s up for streaming below. [Purchase Link]

A second release I’ve been enjoying is the new Cassius EP I <3 U So out on Ed Banger. The title track is pretty catchy although from a production perspective I find it difficult to listen to as it’s pretty heavy on the hi’s, but I dig the EP’s remixes from Skream, and B-side from Night Slugs‘ L-Vis 1990. [Purchase Link]

The third and final EP I’ve had on repeat is the brand new Canblaster release Master of Complication, which isout on Nightshifters. The Club Cheval resident provides some dank coverage of the tropical and UK Garage end of the EDM spectrum. Big fan of this record, it’s among my favorite releases of 2011 so far, and a real grower. Second A-side ‘Triple Ring’ is the most impressive track on the EP, which sees remixes from Jess Jubilee and Magnum, while Para One & Teki-Latex provide 3 renditions of Canblaster’s ‘Clockworks’ to round out a super solid release. Be sure to check it out. [Purchase Link]